Brandeis International Fellowships in
Human Rights, Intervention, and International Law
A program of
The International Center for Ethics, Justice, and Public Life
at Brandeis University
Summary
The Brandeis International Fellowships in Human Rights, Intervention, and International
Law brings together ten Fellows for a series of three one week Institutes over an eighteenmonth period. During their time at Brandeis University, and through their work on
individual research projects between the Institutes, Fellows explore the topics of human
rights, intervention, and international law building on their own expertise and through
discussions with scholars and practitioners from the Boston area and beyond. Justice
Richard Goldstone, member of the Constitutional Court of South Africa, former Chief
Prosecutor for the International War Crimes Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and
Rwanda, and Advisory Board member of the International Center for Ethics, Justice and
Public Life, is actively involved in the fellowship program. Justice Goldstone will also
participate in a judicial education pilot project that will coincide with the second of the three
Institutes.
Philosophy
The past decade witnessed severe and repeated crises around the globe related to human
rights, many of which resulted in international intervention. The United Nations
International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda set bold new
precedents for judicial involvement with respect to international human rights. The work of
the Tribunals has also stimulated discussion of permanent courts for similar purposes.
Jurists and diplomats from around the world are currently engaged in assessing the viability
of an International Criminal Court.
As international intervention and judicial action in support of human rights become more
prevalent, new questions arise concerning the ethical foundations and composition of such
courts. What training do jurists need to address issues of international human rights and
intervention? What are the guiding ethical concerns that underpin international judiciaries?
On what legal foundation is their mandate built? How can judges best prepare themselves
to adjudicate across ethnic, religious, cultural, linguistic, and national boundaries? What are
the relative merits of justice and reconciliation? How can international courts focused on
human rights secure their legitimacy and enforce their rulings? What lessons can be
learned from past experiences, and how can this knowledge be used in the service of future
efforts?
Questions, rather than answers, tend to dominate discussions of this important emerging
field of judicial action. We seek to frame the core issues, illuminate past successes and
failures as well as new ideas, and identify ways of preparing judges for these new
responsibilities.
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Goal
This fellowship program convenes scholars, educators, activists and judges from around the
world for a combination of collaborative sessions and individual reflection. Their efforts
focus on developing a framework for reflective practice in international courts on issues of
human rights and intervention. Participants in the program attend three institutes over
eighteen months designed to develop a methodology for orienting new international judges
to ideas and responsibilities in these areas. They will also produce projects related to the
Fellows program, such as scholarly articles or teaching modules for judges. Their work
over the course of the program will pioneer new frameworks for thinking about international
intervention and human rights, and new means of preparing jurists for the challenges of this
emerging field.
The Experience
The Fellows will meet together for three one-week institutes: in November 2001, June 2002,
and April 2003. Between institutes, they will work on research, writing and education
projects designed to enhance the reflective practice of the international judiciary in the areas
of human rights and intervention. The second institute, in June 2002, will coincide with a
pilot program for international judges, in which the Fellows will participate.
The Institutes will draw upon the experience of the Fellows, and on the expertise of guest
scholars and practitioners from Brandeis University, the Boston area, and the northeastern
United States.
The First Institute
November 11-16, 2001
The Brandeis International Fellows in Human Rights, Intervention, and International Law
met for the first of three Institutes in November, 2001. The week-long gathering focused on
intensive discussions designed to introduce the Fellows to each others’ work, and to build
connections among them for their future work together.
The core of the program consisted of ten hour-long discussions, each of which examined on
the professional experience and perspective of one of the Fellows. Topics ranged from a
philosophical dialogue on the question“what are rights,” to discussions of gender bias in
the judiciary, the proposed combined national-international tribunals in Cambodia and
Sierra Leone, and the diplomatic debates over armed intervention. These conversations
began the process of creating a common basis of knowledge on which collaborative work
can built.
In addition, the Fellows engaged in dialogues with Center Advisory Board member Justice
Richard Goldstone and with Michael Ignatieff, Director of the Carr Center for Human
Rights at Harvard University. Meetings with faculty, students and staff from Brandeis
University and a public panel discussion on the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist
attacks rounded out the week.
Projects
November 2001 – June 2002
Projects may take many forms, but the most likely would be a scholarly article or a teaching
module for international judges. These projects will grow out of the Fellows’ experiences
and the discussions at the First Institute. The projects may take the form of individual
writing and research, or they may grow into collaborative projects among Fellows.
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The Second Institute
June 12-19 2002
The Second Institute will focus on discussion of the original work produced by the Fellows
in their projects. This collaborative process of intellectual examination is intended to
strengthen the projects and will inform the subsequent revisions
Building on the work of the First Institute, these discussions will also seek to further the
process of creating a comprehensive framework for orienting international judges to issues
of human rights and intervention.
The Second Institute will also coincide the Brandeis Institute for International Judges
(BIIJ), a pilot judicial education project. Several of the Fellows will lead sessions for the
judges, and all of the Fellows will participate in several joint sessions with BIIJ participants.
Projects
June 2002 – April 2003
Fellows will refine and prepare their projects for publication, based on the work done at the
second institute and their experiences with the pilot program.
The Third Institute
____ March 30 – April 5 2003
Coinciding with the publication of a compilation of Fellows’ projects, the final institute will
focus on the development of a long-term plan for educating international judges. The
Institute will focus on creating an implementation plan for the ideas generated during the
previous Institutes, and the teaching modules designed by the Fellows. The content and
structure of the educational programs conceived during the cycle of three Institutes will
form the basis of a new judicial education program sponsored by the International Center
for Ethics, Justice, and Public Life. The Third Institute will also coincide with a public
conference to disseminate the products of the fellowship program.
Biographies of the Fellows
David Benatar is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy at the University of
Cape Town, South Africa. Dr. Benatar teaches courses in applied ethics, contemporary
moral and political philosophy, critical thinking, bioethics, and philosophy of law. He is the
author of numerous articles and Ethics for Everyday, due in August 2001.
Brian Concannon Jr. is a human rights lawyer and activist. Since 1996 he as managed
the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux, an office funded by the Haitian government to help
the judiciary prosecute human rights violations from Haiti’s 1991-94 dictatorship. Mr.
Concannon is currently working on an article entitled “The Burea des Avocats
Internationaux: a victim-centered approach” for the volume Effective Strategies for
Protecting Human Rights.
Peter Ford is British Ambassador to Bahrain. He is also a linguist and a Middle East
specialist with extensive experience in the politics and economics of the region. Prior to
becoming Ambassador, Mr. Ford served as Head of the Near East and North Africa
Department in the British Foreign Office and Senior Advisor to the Foreign Secretary on
the Middle East peace process. His other diplomatic posts have included Riyadh, Paris,
Cairo, and Beirut.
David Hawk is a consultant on human rights and international affairs. He has consulted
for organizations such as the Landmine Survivors Network, Fair Labor Association, U.S.
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Committee for Refugees, and Amnesty International. Mr. Hawk also served as Head of
Office and Chief of the Education, Training, and Information Unit for the U.N. High
Commissioner for Human Rights Cambodia Office in Phnom Penh. He is currently
researching and writing on the subject of “transitional justice in Phnom Penh.”
Naina Kapur is an attorney and Director of Saskhi, a violence intervention center in New
Delhi, India. She is also Co-chairperson of the Asia-Pacific Advisory Forum on Judicial
Education and Equality Issues, an ongoing judge-led effort to mainstream gender equality
issues within the judiciary with specific emphasis on violence against women. In addition,
she is Legal Counsel for a test case before the Supreme Court of India focused on reinterpreting the existing law on rape.
Agnieszka Klonowiecka-Milart is an international judge with the United Nations
Mission in Kosovo, serving on the Pristina District Court. She also serves as a District
Court Judge in Lublin, Poland. Judge Klonowiecka-Milart began her international judicial
experience in 1998 when she was selected by the United Nations as head of the Judicial
Revue Team that examined the judiciary system in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Prior to her
time on the bench she taught criminal law and procedure in Poland.
Chidi Anselm Odinkalu serves as Senior Legal Officer for the Africa, Liberty, and
Security of Persons Programmes at Interights in London. He has also been a Solicitor and
Advocate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria since 1988. An active member of the Executive
Boards of several NGOs, he has also served as a Human Rights Advisor for the U.N.
Observer Mission in Sierra Leone. Mr. Odinkalu’s most recent book Building Bridges for
Rights: Inter-African Initiatives in the field of Human Rights follows two monographs on
Nigerian legal issues.
Nancy Paterson spent the past seven years serving as Acting Senior Trial Attorney at the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). She was the senior
lawyer in charge of the investigation of Slobodan Milosevic. Her work at the ICTY
involved, which included several other major investigations, involved dozens of field
missions to Bosnia, Serbia, and the Republic of Srpska. Prior to her work at the ICTY Ms.
Paterson spent over ten years an Assistant District Attorney in New York County.
Shiranee Tilakawardane was the first woman appointed as a Court of Appeal Judge in
Sri Lanka. Previously, she was a High Court Judge and an Admiralty Court Judge. Judge
Tilakawardane’s efforts are focused on the fields of equality, gender education, and child
rights. She has been active in Sakshi of India’s gender workshops for judges, the Asia
Pacific Forum for Gender Education for Judges, and serves on the International Panel of
Judges for the Child Rights Bureau.
Silvana Turner is an investigator and researcher for the Argentine Forensic Anthropology
Team, an organization that applies the techniques of forensic anthropology to the
investigation of human rights violations. Ms. Turner is also an assistant lecturer at the
University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. In addition to participating in investigations in
Argentina, she has joined forensic teams working in Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Panama,
Guatemala, Honduras, Bosnia, Kosovo, the Philippines, and Ethiopia.
This program is funded by the Rice Family Foundation.